First dibs for Londoners

Sian Berry: How many new homes in the Kew Bridge development were allocated to Londoners ahead of overseas investors, in line with your ‘first dibs’ approach?

The Mayor: There a number of developments in the Kew Bridge area with properties that have been marketed for sale. Whether the relevant homes should have been made available to Londoners in line with ‘first dibs’ depends on whether the developer in question had signed up to the voluntary offer at the time of them being first marketed.

Traffic Congestion (2)

David Kurten: Do you agree that Lord Winston is correct when he stated in the House of Lords that cycle superhighways increased levels of pollution by forcing cars and vans to travel more slowly?

The Mayor: No, I do not agree. Road transport is a significant source of NOX, PM10 and PM2.5 emissions in London. We must continue to reduce these emissions by enabling more Londoners to choose walking, cycling and public transport for their journeys. Monitoring data from Upper Thames Street[1] along the East-West Cycle Superhighway continues to show reducing levels of PM10 and the site achieved the annual mean and daily mean limit values in both 2017 and 2018 – the first time it has done so.
Improved cycling facilities are designed to improve safety for those cycling and to ensure we are making more efficient use of limited road space in London. They have helped increase the capacity on some of London’s critical road corridors: for example, there was a 5 per cent increase in the total number of people travelling across Blackfriars Bridge in the peak hour following the introduction of segregated cycle lanes.
By encouraging more people to choose active, sustainable and efficient modes of transport, we can ensure that London’s roads will be more reliable for freight, services and other essential journeys made by motorised modes. As part of my strategy to encourage a shift to non-polluting forms of transport, I am committed to making London’s streets safer and more attractive for cycling, including introducing more world-class cycling facilities.
[1] https://www.londonair.org.uk/london/asp/datasite.asp?CBXSpecies1=PM10m&d...